The enchanted North : nature, place and gender in 'off the grid' social media representations

The article explores 'off the grid' representations in social media, with a focus on how these representations reproduce imaginaries of nature, place and gender. The analysis material consists of content produced by three influencers who left urban life for a simpler lifestyle in northern...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Anthropological Journal of European Cultures
Main Authors: Larsson, Emelie, Ingridsdotter, Jenny
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Umeå universitet, Institutionen för kultur- och medievetenskaper 2023
Subjects:
enchantment
influencers
gender
rurality
social media
voluntary simplicity
wilderness
Ethnology
Etnologi
Northern Sweden
Online Access:http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-216613
https://doi.org/10.3167/ajec.2023.320204
Description
Summary:The article explores 'off the grid' representations in social media, with a focus on how these representations reproduce imaginaries of nature, place and gender. The analysis material consists of content produced by three influencers who left urban life for a simpler lifestyle in northern Sweden. We find that the social media content draws on numerous ideals: neoliberal ideals on digital entrepreneurship, anti-capitalist ideals on ‘escaping’ modern consumerist society and romantic (sometimes colonial) envisioning of northern Sweden as wild and empty land. We conclude that the ‘off grid’ social media representations and the various ideals they incorporate should be understood as expressions of a contemporary era of neoliberal romanticism: a trend that exists both online and offline.

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